When responsible media reporting can challenge us… to improve – Part 2

By Mario Steta

In our June editorial, the description of a first significant personal experience with a media report was presented, expressing at the end of the note that I would return with a second situation that helped me understand the role of “responsible” media in objectively identifying issues that need to be exposed, corrected, or improved.

In 2014, Richard Marosi was an investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times, with which he remains associated to this day. Much of his work had focused, and remains centered, on topics between Mexico and the USA related to immigration, labor conditions, border issues, violence, and security, with a particular interest in the agricultural sector.

In December 2014, the LA Times published the first of several articles under the title “Hardship on Mexico’s farms, a bounty for U.S. tables,” making reference to “Product of Mexico.” For 18 months, Marosi had visited different horticultural production regions in Mexico, looking into worker conditions, particularly those of migrant workers from southern Mexican states, which for decades had been the source of seasonal labor for winter production regions in states like Sinaloa and Baja California.

While reporters undoubtedly want to be recognized for their work, and in this case Richard Marosi was striving for a Pulitzer, for which he was a finalist in 2015 as a result of this series of articles, there was no doubt, in my opinion, a good degree of honesty and commitment to understand, bear witness to, expose, and report on a situation that Mexican growers, organizations, and authorities had to address and improve in an effective manner without further delay.

It could be questioned how objective and willing he was in terms of interviewing and giving access to different points of view, but it needs to be recognized that his approach was not only to expose conditions within Mexico but also to seek accountability from USA buyers that had for years been sourcing produce in the country.

Without doubt, for years there had been responsible farmers providing adequate living and working conditions for their workers, but the need to generate, coordinate, and formalize efforts in a cohesive, national, industry-wide approach had become a necessity. To that end, and building upon efforts by organizations like the National Agricultural Council, CAADES, CABC, ANEBERRIES, and AMPHAC, AHIFORES (the International Fruit and Vegetable Alliance for Social Responsibility) had already been formed by the time the articles started to be published.

Yet the visibility of what was exposed, in a reality that could no longer be denied, generated an environment in which producers and organizations like those mentioned above, worker representatives, federal and state authorities, international organizations like the ILO, and NGOs within the country formally committed to act upon and improve the conditions of farm workers and their families.

As relevant as these efforts within Mexico was the fact that the work by Marosi induced retail chains and organizations like UFPA and PMA (now integrated as IFPA), in a joint effort with Mexican producer organizations like AHIFORES, to jointly develop labor standards that resulted in the publication of the “Ethical Charter” in 2018, to which practically all key members of the produce value chain within North America subscribed.

In finishing this editorial, I would like to mention three more elements:
I met with Richard a few times, to the concern of some of my colleagues in Mexico. By talking openly and understanding our mutual concerns, points of view, and motivations, we actually developed a relationship which led to further exchanges and interactions during some years after the publication of his work.
As the need for more agricultural migrant workers increases globally, it is important that the outcome of this type of reporting is not forgotten and that unfair and unethical working conditions at our farms and throughout the value chain are not accepted or tolerated.
IBO and its members have a deep commitment to respecting and improving the working and living conditions of the horticultural workers that sustain our industry, and we encourage and expect a consistent application of laws and regulations, not only because it makes business sense, but more importantly, because it is the right way to act and behave, with all that “right” implies.

12-02-2025
IBO Editorial.